I found Dr. Davis’s most recent post about vitamin D interesting and amusing. In the post he discusses his vitamin D target range for his patients 60-70 ng/ml 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level.

here’s a quote from his post:

“More recently, having achieved this target blood level in many people, I can tell you confidently that achieving this blood level of vitamin D achieves:

–Virtual elimination of “winter blues” and seasonal affective disorder in the great majority
–Dramatic increases in HDL cholesterol (though full effect can require a year to develop)
–Reduction in triglycerides
–Modest reduction in blood pressure
–Dramatic reduction in c-reactive protein (far greater than achieved with Crestor, JUPITER trial or no)
–Increased bone density (improved osteoporosis/osteopenia)
–Halting or reversal of aortic valve disease

end quote

Sounds pretty good huh? You can read the rest of it here “High-dose” Vitamin D

In-home Vitamin D Testing!

The Vitamin D Council has teamed-up with ZRT Laboratory to provide some in-home vitamin D testing.  Since the in-home test is a little cheaper than the one we use via a standard blood drawing lab, I would say this is primarily a good option for folks without medical insurance.

As usual I’ve pasted the entire Vitamin D Council’s Newsletter below for you all to benefit from!

The Vitamin D Newsletter

December 28, 2008

The Vitamin D Council is happy to announce that we have partnered with ZRT Laboratory to provide an inexpensive, $65.00, in-home, accurate, vitamin D [25(OH)D] test. The usual cost for this test is between $100.00 and $200.00.

If you read this newsletter, you know about our interest in accurate vitamin D testing.  In the next few weeks, you may read about the Vitamin D Council’s quest for accurate vitamin D blood tests in the national media.  Before we partnered with ZRT, we verified, repeatedly, that ZRT provides accurate and reliable vitamin D tests and that their method corresponds very well to the gold standard of vitamin D blood tests, the DiaSorin RIA.

Our ZRT service is not just inexpensive, it means no more worrying about your doctor ordering the right test or interpreting it correctly.  You buy the test kit on the internet or by phone, a few days later the kit comes in the mail, you or a nurse friend do a finger stick, collect a few drops of blood, and send the blotter paper back to ZRT in the postage paid envelope provided with the kit.  A week later you get results back in the mail and know accurate 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels of you and your family.

For every test you order, ZRT will donate $10.00 to the Vitamin D Council.  Please read the new page hyperlinked below on our website as it both explains the procedure and how to order the test.
click here

Executive summary: keep your family’s 25-hydroxy-vitamin D blood test above 50 ng/ml, year around. Most adults need at least 5,000 IU per day, especially this time of year.  Most children need at least 1,000 IU per day per every 25 pounds of body weight. Bio Tech Pharmacal provides high quality and inexpensive vitamin D.  Currently Bio Tech Pharmacal is providing vitamin D for numerous scientific studies.  To see their prices and for ordering, click the hyperlink below:
click here

As a gift to our readers for the New Year, Thorne publications have provided a free download to a basic paper about vitamin D.  I wrote it earlier this year for educated lay people as well as health care practitioners.  Please read this paper carefully, your family’s well-being, even lives, may depend on you understanding it.
Thorne link

Seasons Greetings
John Cannell, MD

vitamindcouncil.org

Thank you for subscribing to the Vitamin D Newsletter from the Vitamin D Council. The Vitamin D Council is a non-profit trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. Please reproduce this newsletter and post it on Internet sites. Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on donations to publish our newsletter and maintain our website. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:

The Vitamin D Council

9100 San Gregorio Road

Atascadero, CA 93422

Howdy All!

Hope you’re having an awesome holiday season!

Here’s a little vitamin D news for you to share with your family and friends:

Low Levels Of Vitamin D Increase Risk Of Caesarean Delivery
Vitamin D researcher Michael Holick, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the Boston Medical Center report that women in their study who were severely vitamin D deficient during childbirth were about four times more likely to deliver by cesarean section as women with higher vitamin D levels.

Adults might need 10 times more vitamin D. This is a pretty good article with some interesting quotes in it. For example, one group of physicians is spreading the word about vitamin D deficiency, so much so that they came up with a form letter (including the treatment protocol) for patients so that they wouldn’t have to explain it to each of them dozens of times per day. “We got tired of saying it,” she said. “It was easier to hand out a letter that explained all of this.” I’m pretty sure we’re past the point of needing something like this at our clinic and I plan to get one of these forms going in the new year!

Low carb “Sugar” Cookies
(Sugarless, gluten-free, grain-free)

We’ve been enjoying these for the past few days!

Ingredients:
* 1 1/4 cups almond flour/meal (the blanched type creates the most traditional looking cookies)
* 1/2 cup Splenda
* 2/3 cup erythritol  (If you do not have erythritol, they can be made with 1 full cup of Splenda)
* 1 egg
* 1/2 teaspoon butter flavored extract
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

* granulated erythritol (or combination erythritol and splenda) for cookie tops*

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Cream the sweeteners with the butter using a mixer.  Add egg and flavorings. Mix until smooth. Add almond flour and stir until well mixed.

Form dough into ¾ to 1 inch diameter balls (about 20-24) and space evenly on a parchment paper or silpat** covered cookie sheet.  Place a small amount of granulated erythitol (or erythritol and splenda combo) in a small bowl.  Take a glass and coat the bottom lightly with oil or non-stick spray.  Dip the bottom of the glass in the bowl to coat it.  Use the sweetener-covered glass to press down on each cookie ball to flatten it into a silver-dollar size. Re-dip the glass in the sweetener between cookies to recoat it. Take care to not make them too thin or they will brown too much.  You can also sprinkle a little extra sweetener on the tops of the cookies once they are flattened if you’d like.

Bake at 300°F for 16 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are very slightly browned.

Remove the baking pan from the oven and let the cookies cool on the pan for 6 minutes.

At this point, using a very flat pancake turner or spatula carefully remove each cookie to a wire rack.  If they are still to fragile at this point, wait a few more minutes.  Cool well on the wire rack.

Once cooled, these cookies are crunchy and buttery.

This recipe doubles well.

*granulated erythritol provides the crunchy crystals for the top of the cookie, but creates a cool mouth feel that some people find strange.  Mix half and half with splenda to lessen that effect or leave it out if it bothers you.

**Silpats are non-stick silicone baking mats.  Parchment paper is available in most grocery stores near the foil.  Use one or the other for most low-carb baking.

3 keys to defeating CSP (cereal,sandwich,pasta) Syndrome + a bonus health tip!
Blam! Thwaak! Zowee!

Time to fight the good fight against CSP Syndrome and all of the negative health consequences associated with it! (diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and various other health robbing villains!)
1. Here’s what one of our antidotes for CSP syndrome might look like…
for breakfast

+

for lunch

+
for dinner (Chipotle Chicken and Sausage Soup)

Your job is to give high and medium glycemic index foods the BOOT!

Arm yourself by learning about the glycemic index and carbohydrate conscious eating: 

The Glycemic Index The Atkins Diet South Beach Diet

In order for you to defeat CPS syndrome you must invite more of the “good guys” (*below the glycemic index foods and low glycemic index food) into your life. In your battle you’ll want to enlist the help of foods such as meat, eggs, nuts, broccoli, lettuce and avocados! *below glycemic index foods have no impact on your blood sugar.

2. Give wheat a big “SOCKO POW!” out of your life!
Go the extra mile and get yourself tested for gluten sensitivity.
(You’ll have to poop in a little container to run the test. If you’re a bit uncomfortable with this notion, get yourself a little treat once you get the task complete!)

3. D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D
Give your body even more weapons to deal with the blood sugar challenges CSP Syndrome has left you with…treat your vitamin D deficiency!

**BONUS HEALTH WEAPON**
For an added healthy dose of “KAPOW!” “ZIP!” “WHAMMY!” don’t put up with a sluggish thyroid!

(The majority of the 50 million-plus Americans with a thyroid problem are undiagnosed. Are you one of them?) It can sometimes be a challenge to find a doctor who will treat a mildly low thyroid problem, but you can do it!

Here’s what one cardiologist Dr. William Davis, has to say about thyroid treatment:
“Having now tested the thyroid status of several hundred patients over the last few months, I have come to appreciate:

1) That thyroid dysfunction is rampant, affecting at least 25% of everyone I see.
2) It is an enormously effective means to reduce cardiovascular risk.”
read more about low thyroid and plaque

Now that you know your mission, banish CSP Syndrome from your health metropolis today!

HEALTH CRISIS!
CSP syndrome is sweeping the nation!

Millions of Americans are putting their lives in serious jeopardy due to this insidious pilferer of health and vitality.

So what the heck is “CSP syndrome”?

CSP Syndrome = Cereal for breakfast, Sandwich for lunch, Pasta for dinner

+

+

=CSP

The carbohydrate ramifications alone of this CSP make me shudder. Let alone the number of people who are unaware of being gluten sensitive, naively ingesting this tempting poison into their systems on a daily basis.

But fear not all you afflicted with this nasty pathology, help is on the way!

I’ve decided that I’ll post the occasional blog post about carbs and gluten. I’m convinced that carbs are evil (keep in mind I manage a very busy health care clinic. If you saw the before low carb eating vs. after low carb eating lab work that I see everyday you’d believe that carbs are evil too.)

Repeat after me “carbs are EVIL”.

*NEW STUDY*

Sugar can be addictive, Princeton scientist says

Let’s not forget that sugar is not just in the candy bar you had the admirable discipline to avoid, but how about the sugar in wheat, rice, pasta, corn. What about the cereal you’re still devouring everyday? By far the #1 most predicable item on the dietary portion of our health history forms for our patients….CEREAL!

Don’t believe me? Check this out from Dr. Davis (a cardiologist) over on the Heart Scan Blog - What’s worse than sugar? I love his statement “Stay clear of these foods if you have low HDL, high triglycerides, high blood sugar, or small LDL. Or, for that matter, if you are human.”

We see this addiction phenomena a fair amount with gluten as well (although, it seems like the carbs/sugar addiction is more common). Some folks really struggle when it comes to eliminating gluten from their diets. I don’t just mean that they find it hard to find replacements, I mean that they “just can’t handle it”.

There is evidence out there that gluten is also an addicting substance.

Lack of vitamin D causes weight gain and stunts growth in girls.

Canada-US study published in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism recommends young people be screened for low vitamin D levels.

“The high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in young people living in a sun-rich area was surprising,” says study lead author, Richard Kremer, co-director of the Musculoskeletal Axis of the MUHC. “We found young women with vitamin D insufficiency were significantly heavier, with a higher body mass index and increased abdominal fat, than young women with normal levels.”

World Health Organization calls for major clinical trial for vitamin D.

The striking observation that people with low levels of vitamin D are at an elevated risk of cancer, premature death and chronic diseases should be tested in a large-scale, drug-style clinical trial, says the World Health Organization’s agency specializing in cancer research.

Have you had YOUR vitamin D tested and treated YET???

Here are just a few of the vitamin D headlines out of dozens that I’ve scanned over the past few days…..

Vitamin D May Tame Colon-Cancer Cells
Published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology

Vitamin D Found To Fight Placental Infection
This study presents a new mechanism for activation of innate immune responses in the placenta to protect it from infectious bacteria and sheds new light on the possible role of vitamin D in pregnancy and pregnancy-associated infection.

The new star of the nutritional world is clearly vitamin D
Los Angeles Times

Vitamin D Growth Inhibition of Prostate Cancer Explained
Read about the ability of vitamin D to block the growth of prostate cancer

Happy reading - have you tested and treated your low vitamin D yet????

I’ve mentioned The Heart Scan blog a few times. It’s a blog I like to read daily. The author is William Davis who’s a cardiologist.

I started reading his blog because he’s into vitamin D. However, it quickly became clear to me that he and my wife are on the same page with many of their approaches to health care - carb conscious eating, avoiding wheat/grain and treating vitamin D deficiency. More recently Dr. Davis has also been writing about how under active thyroid being properly treated improves cholesterol problems - something my wife has been doing for the past 15 years. So I guess in part I like to read his blog because he’s a cardiologist who echos the words of wisdom my wife has been telling her patients for so long.

Anyway - here’s a blog post from Dr Davis about a case study of a patient with aortic valve disease improving with proper vitamin D treatment. A quote from Dr. Davis and his case study “Prior to vitamin D, I had NEVER witnessed any aortic valve disease stop or reverse.”